The playing of elements or multimedia files by users in all types of digital devices has increased considerably in recent years due to the increasingly better size vs. quality ratio existing found therein due to the progress in compression codes and programs, as well as the appearance in the market of all types of devices suitable for playing them.
Proposals directed towards controlling said plays to a certain extent have been carried out for different purposes, counting them in order to achieve better management of said multimedia files and/or greater control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,302 relates to a system for managing, from a central station, a plurality of jukeboxes found in different locations, with which it is communicated through a two-way communications link used to both send a series of songs to each jukebox together with the identifying information associated to each one of them, and to receive data referring to the use of said songs from each jukebox.
Information referring to the number of plays of each song in each jukebox is among said data received from each jukebox, with the aim of replacing the songs when it is considered to be necessary according to the number of times they have been played, amongst other factors.
The application of said patent is very specific because it is focused only on the control of such type of machines, which are accessed by multiple users, therefore the counts carried out, which are only direct, are carried for each jukebox without distinguishing the users who have played the songs to be counted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,946 relates to a system for interactive multimedia entertainment in which a plurality of songs and/or videos are stored and allows receiving information concerning the cost of each song and other relevant information. In one of its embodiments, the system comprises receiving means suitable for counting the number of plays of each song for the purpose of charging the recipient a price per play.
In both the aforementioned background documents, the count of the plays is direct and its aim is to manage the supply of the songs (or videos) to either replace them when they have been played a certain number of times or to charge a price for them, also according to the number of plays.